PageReference Class

PageReference methods are all called by and operate on a particular instance of a PageReference.

The table below describes the instance methods for PageReference.

Name	Arguments	Return Type	Description
getAnchor		String	Returns the name of the anchor referenced in the page’s URL. That is, the part of the URL after the hashtag (#).
getContent		Blob	Returns the output of the page, as displayed to a user in a Web browser. The content of the returned Blob is dependent on how the page is rendered. If the page is rendered as a PDF, it returns the PDF. If the page is not rendered as a PDF, it returns the HTML. To access the content of the returned HTML as a string, use the toString Blob method. Note If you use getContent in a test method, a blank PDF is generated when used with a Visualforce page that is supposed to render as PDF. This method can't be used in: Triggers Scheduled Apex Batch jobs Test methods Apex email services If there's an error on the Visualforce page, an ExecutionException is thrown.
getContentAsPDF		Blob	Returns the page as a PDF, regardless of the <apex:page> component's renderAs attribute. This method can't be used in: Triggers Scheduled Apex Batch jobs Test methods Apex email services
getCookies		Map<String, System.Cookie[]>	Returns a map of cookie names and cookie objects, where the key is a String of the cookie name and the value contains the list of cookie objects with that name. Used in conjunction with the Cookie class. Only returns cookies with the “apex__” prefix set by the setCookies method.
getHeaders		Map<String, String>	Returns a map of the request headers, where the key string contains the name of the header, and the value string contains the value of the header. This map can be modified and remains in scope for the PageReference object. For instance, you could do: PageReference.getHeaders().put('Date', '9/9/99'); For a description of request headers, see Request Headers.
getParameters		Map<String, String>	Returns a map of the query string parameters that are included in the page URL. The key string contains the name of the parameter, while the value string contains the value of the parameter. This map can be modified and remains in scope for the PageReference object. For instance, you could do: PageReference.getParameters().put('id', myID); Parameter keys are case-insensitive. For example: System.assert( ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('myParamName') == ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('myparamname'));
getRedirect		Boolean	Returns the current value of the PageReference object's redirect attribute. Note that if the URL of the PageReference object is set to a website outside of the salesforce.com domain, the redirect always occurs, regardless of whether the redirect attribute is set to true or false.
getUrl		String	Returns the relative URL associated with the PageReference when it was originally defined, including any query string parameters and anchors.
setAnchor	String Anchor	System.PageReference	Sets the URL’s anchor reference to the specified string. For example, https://Salesforce_instance/apex/my_page#anchor1.
setCookies	Cookie[] cookies	Void	Creates a list of cookie objects. Used in conjunction with the Cookie class. Important Cookie names and values set in Apex are URL encoded, that is, characters such as @ are replaced with a percent sign and their hexadecimal representation. The setCookies method adds the prefix “apex__” to the cookie names. Setting a cookie's value to null sends a cookie with an empty string value instead of setting an expired attribute. After you create a cookie, the properties of the cookie can't be changed. Be careful when storing sensitive information in cookies. Pages are cached regardless of a cookie value. If you use a cookie value to generate dynamic content, you should disable page caching. For more information, see “Caching Force.com Sites Pages” in the Salesforce online help.
setRedirect	Boolean redirect	System.PageReference	Sets the value of the PageReference object's redirect attribute. If set to true, a redirect is performed through a client side redirect. This type of redirect performs an HTTP GET request, and flushes the view state, which uses POST. If set to false, the redirect is a server-side forward that preserves the view state if and only if the target page uses the same controller and contains the proper subset of extensions used by the source page. Note that if the URL of the PageReference object is set to a website outside of the salesforce.com domain, or to a page with a different controller or controller extension, the redirect always occurs, regardless of whether the redirect attribute is set to true or false.

The following example shows how to use a PageReference object to retrieve a query string parameter in the current page URL. In this example, the getAccount method references the id query string parameter:

public class MyController {
   public Account getAccount() {
        return [SELECT Id, Name FROM Account
                WHERE Id = :ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('Id')];
    }
}

The following page markup calls the getAccount method from the controller above:

<apex:page controller="MyController">
    <apex:pageBlock title="Retrieving Query String Parameters">
        You are viewing the {!account.name} account.
    </apex:pageBlock>
</apex:page>

Note

For this example to render properly, you must associate the Visualforce page with a valid account record in the URL. For example, if 001D000000IRt53 is the account ID, the resulting URL should be:

https://Salesforce_instance/apex/MyFirstPage?id=001D000000IRt53

The getAccount method uses an embedded SOQL query to return the account specified by the id parameter in the URL of the page. To access id, the getAccount method uses the ApexPages namespace:

• First the currentPage method returns the PageReference instance for the current page. PageReference returns a reference to a Visualforce page, including its query string parameters.
• Using the page reference, use the getParameters method to return a map of the specified query string parameter names and values.
• Then a call to the get method specifying id returns the value of the id parameter itself.

Any action method in a custom controller or controller extension can return a PageReference object as the result of the method. If the redirect attribute on the PageReference is set to true, the user navigates to the URL specified by the PageReference.

The following example shows how this can be implemented with a save method. In this example, the PageReference returned by the save method redirects the user to the detail page for the account record that was just saved:

public class mySecondController {
    Account account;

    public Account getAccount() {
        if(account == null) account = new Account();
        return account;
    }

    public PageReference save() {
        // Add the account to the database. 
        insert account;
        // Send the user to the detail page for the new account.
        PageReference acctPage = new ApexPages.StandardController(account).view();
        acctPage.setRedirect(true);
        return acctPage;
    }
}

The following page markup calls the save method from the controller above. When a user clicks Save, he or she is redirected to the detail page for the account just created:

<apex:page controller="mySecondController" tabStyle="Account">
    <apex:sectionHeader title="New Account Edit Page" />
    <apex:form>
        <apex:pageBlock title="Create a New Account">
            <apex:pageBlockButtons location="bottom">
                <apex:commandButton action="{!save}" value="Save"/>
            </apex:pageBlockButtons>
            <apex:pageBlockSection title="Account Information">
                <apex:inputField id="accountName" value="{!account.name}"/>
                <apex:inputField id="accountSite" value="{!account.site}"/>
            </apex:pageBlockSection>
       </apex:pageBlock>
    </apex:form>
</apex:page>